


Worthy of Being The Unbreakable Sword

by King988



Category: The King: Eternal Monarch, 더 킹：영원의 군주 | The King: Eternal Monarch (TV)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hospitalization, Hurt/Comfort, Kdrama, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:20:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 17,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24738325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/King988/pseuds/King988
Summary: Heavy Jo Yeong whump following the events that happened after he passes out in ep 16. How did everyone around Yeong react as he clings onto his life after risking it to protect the younger Gon from Lee Lim's Men...His injuries are much worse than meets th eye...Can Lee Gon rush back in time to save Yeong?
Relationships: Jeong Tae Eul/Lee Gon, Jo Eun Seob/Jo Yeong, Jo Eun Seob/Lee Gon, Jo Yeong & Lee Gon, Jo Yeong/Myeong Seung Ah
Comments: 32
Kudos: 221





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> *Pyeha; Your majesty  
> *Mianhada; I'm sorry

**1994 December 13**

**Kingdom of Corea- Night of the treason**

**Bamboo forest**

After Lee Gon beheaded Lee Lim and obtained the complete Manpasikjeok, he realised it was finally over...all that has happened during these years did not exist,Tae Eul would’ve lost her memory of him but yet Gon vowed to go find her by opening all the doors of the universe.

He’ll deal with the aftermath later, but now he has to rush back to the palace because Yeong is waiting for him...A very injured Yeong. Before leaving the cheonjongo to go after Lee Rim, he took a glance at Yeong, who was shielding Gon’s younger self with his body...Gon’s heart ached to see Yeong like that...things didn’t go the same as he hoped and now Yeong is hurt. His heart ached even more to see the bullet holes on Yeong’s back which were stopped by his bulletproof vest but it must’ve hurt a lot, even more when it was close distance. he didn’t have time to check Yeong thoroughly before dashing out of the cheonjongo but Yeong’s form looked like he was gonna pass out anytime and Gon fears that he won’t make it back in time..

“Hang in there Yeong...I’m coming to you”, Gon repeated in his head as he ran towards the palace.

**Cheonjongo**

_**Yeong’s POV** _

As soon as pyeha left, I looked down at the boy in my arms, feeling for a pulse on his neck and a wave of relief flushed over me when little Pyeha’s bloodied hand gripped onto mine...”You are safe Pyeha...”, I hugged him even harder, wanting to shield his small body from all the evil. Damn, the pain starts setting in as the adrenaline drains and I can hear the people of the palace coming towards cheonjongo. Little Pyeha will be safe in their hands and I cannot be seen.

I carefully laid young Pyeha down and seek cover at a blindspot at the back of the circular room..my sight was blurry as I stood and and a headache starts setting in...fuck, everything hurts like a bitch, especially my left arm and collarbone? Fuck, A bullet must’ve nicked a vein or artery, I’m bleeding somewhere and it’s bad...I’m starting to see black dots dancing in my vision. But I don’t have the energy to assess my injuries and stench any bleeding...I came with pyeha knowing this might be the last...But he must survive, I gave my all protecting him and seeing him well is good enough for me to go without regret.

They say that life flashes before you before death, I don’t know about that because the flashback of 8 year old Pyeha appointing 4 year old me as the unbreakable sword played in my mind...how funny to have this as the last thing I see before death...perhaps this is my life, the moment he gave me that title, I knew that my life was to protect him. And that’s enough...that’s enough...

I felt a tear streaming down my face, fuck why am I crying? I should be glad that little Pyeha is safe so he’s able to live to adulthood and become a great king. I know that if Pyeha has succeeded in killing Lee Lim he would try and make his way back to me...he shouldn’t...I feel myself growing more tired and holding on to consciousness is becoming a harder task every second. Without knowing, I slowly drift into darkness...

**_Third person POV_ **

Gon raced through the bamboo forest andslipped into the palace, finally reaching cheonjongo. He sees the bodies of Lee Rim’s men and blood everywhere. His father and Little Gon is gone, meaning that the palace people have been here and they’re currently occupied with them. But Yeong is nowhere in sight and he starts to panic. He looks at where Yeong have been when cradling his younger self and sees a trail of blood leading to the other end of cheonjongo...Gon prepared himself for the worse and he made his way round to the back, “Yeong ah, please...”

The moment he saw the man, slumped against the wall of the foundation, unconscious and bleeding, Gon’s heart felt like it was stabbed multiple times..his Yeong...with panic he went up to him and knelt down besides..both hands cupping the younger mans blood smeared face.

“Yeong ah, Yeong!”, Gon called desperately, getting no response only made his heart race quicker with panic..”he can’t be dead..not like this”, Gon thought anxiously...

Shakily, Gon tried to feel for a pulse on yeong’s neck and it was dead silence...he concentrated so hard to feel a beat that he even forgets to breathe...and there it was, weak but still there…a small beat against his fingertips. His unbreakable sword can’t break today, no, not on his watch. With a sigh of great relief, Gon scrambled quickly to assess Yeong’s injuries and right away, he found the problem..a shot to the left side collarbone and one to the left arm, it’s a bloodied mess and blood was still oozing out..”fuck it must’ve nicked an artery”, Gon thought..there’s no time to waste, he managed to find some fabric to place over the wound to slow the bleeding and it worried him when Yeong didn’t even flinch...there could be internal bleeding from where the bullets impacted the vest, but he didn’t want to risk moving Yeong too much and decided to leave the vest on for the moment.

Gon carried Yeong to where they left the horses..there was no choice but to have Yeong ride on Maximus with him to go across the portal and back to 2020 Corea...

“Hang in there Yeong...”, Gon muttered under his breath, “You’re not allowed to die on me like this, that’s an order”.

TBC.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Pyeha; Your majesty  
> *Mianhada; I'm sorry

**2020 Kingdom of Corea**

As soon as Gon (and Yeong) passed through the portal and into the Bamboo forest, Gon notice it was nighttime, although he’s not sure what month or day it is. the area is surveilled by the royal guards and within minutes he could hear the royal guards approaching on horseback.

The team was lead by vice captain Seok Ho Pil, and Gon recognised most of the other guards such as In Young and Mi Reuk, he noted that there were no changes to the staff and certainly by the mortified looks of the royal guards, they recognised the injured and disheveled man with their majesty is none other than their captain Jo Yeong.

“Pyeha! Are you alright? What happened to captain Jo?!”, Ho Pil asked worriedly with tears in his eyes.

Gon wasted no time in explaining everything that happened, because he doesn’t even know himself what’s the situation in Corea now after the change in history. “Yeong is injured badly, gunshot wounds and possible internal bleeding, get a helicopter med evac now! There’s no time to waste!”, Gon ordered with a stern voice.

The helicopter took a little less than 5 minutes to arrive, they moved to a clear patch of the forest so it could land. Three medics came rushing out and started working hastily on Yeong after greeting their king. The royal guards helped with loading their captain onto a stretcher and into the belly of the helicopter. Gon told Ho Pil that he’ll explain everything later and ordered him to inform Court lady Noh of what happened and escort her to the hospital if she needs. Gon climbed into to chopper and it soon took off. Not shifting his gaze off Yeong, which the medics have already managed to skilfully remove the clothings and bulletproof vest on his upper body leaving a bruised and bloodied chest exposed in the open. Gon feels like he died over and over looking at the scene before him.

The ride only took 10 minutes but already, the medics have started and IV into Yeong’s right arm, slipped on an oxygen mask over his pale face and attached leads onto his chest to monitor the heart rate, needless to say, it was bad, even Gon with no medical knowledge knew by looking at the monitor that Yeong was fading away and he could be gone any minute.

“Collarbone looks broken, judging from the blood flow, the subclavian artery is severed! Clamp!...Suspected bruised kidneys from taking multiple rounds at the back!...”, the medics were barking diagnosis and treatments which made Gon even more concerned with the extent of Yeong’s injuries, only 3 more minutes till arrival..and that’s when the heart monitor went crazy...

“Blood pressure is plumbing!”, the medics were frantic...they knew that this dying man before them meant a lot to their king..they could be beheaded if he dies on their watch!

One of the medics listened to Yeong’s chest with a stethoscope, “muffled sounds in the left chest, his lung is collapsed! Need to place chest tube now!”, the medic barked.

Gon was utterly horrified, he knew what that meant, this happened when one of the officers got injured when he was in the navy and it was not pretty. The medic made an incision with a scalpel between Yeong’s ribs on the side and guided the chest tube in, Gon swore he saw Yeong’s brows scrunch up in pain, but later fell unconscious again. The blood started draining and the stats on the monitor started improving a little. After this was done, they’ve already touched down on the helipad of the hospital and a team of doctors were on standby, ready to do their best to save Yeong.

Gon followed up to the doors of the operating theatre, he knew that even though he was the king, he couldn’t enter the restricted area..he also didn’t want to give the surgeons any pressure and jeopardize Yeong’s health. They need to focus on Yeong and Yeong only.

It was only when the automatic doors closed behind the doctors and lifeless Yeong that Gon broke down on one of the chairs in the hallway. His hands covered with Yeong’s blood and the complete manpasikjeok in his inner pocket. He had to think...make sense of everything. Soon after, Ho Pil and the royal guards arrived with court lady Noh. Gon could not comprehend what her face showed, it was a mixture of emotions.

“Pyeha!”, court lady Noh exclaimed as she took a seat next to Gon, “what is all this about?! When are you going to stop making me worried?!”, she cried

Gon looked at her with sad eyes and pulled her into a comforting hug, “I know..I’m sorry...”, he didn’t know what to say so they just stayed like that for a moment. Court lady Noh comforted Gon explaining that Yeong is strong and would pull through..she did not ask where he has been with Yeong nor how it had lead to this, she figured that Gon would tell her when he is ready. For her, she only knows that Gon had gone out with Yeong for a casual outing on horseback earlier in the day and now they have come back like this. Of course, Gon knows that she would have no recollection of anything that happened before he left and he supposed there would be ‘filler memories’ for people who has forgotten.

He learnt from Court lady Noh that Lee Lim was actually dead on the night of the treason back in 1994, and Gon himself became king as usual, with no story of tae eul’s police badge, no history of Gon being gone for days claiming to be in the study while he was actually travelling to a parallel world, which also meant that Lee Jong In is alive, Kang Shin Jae no, Kang Hyun Min never left Corea and Luna is not evil or dying of cancer. Surprisingly, he also learned that prime minister, no, assemblywoman Koo was jailed for money laundering and secretary Kim is now her prison guard. Gon ordered Ho Pil to find the whereabouts of Kang Hyun Min and ‘Luna’.

The wait was dreadful, he refused to go back to the palace and had court lady Noh sent back instead. He can’t stress that poor old woman out anymore. The royal guards stayed as well, they’re not giving in until they see their captain come out alive. They would see nurses rushing in and out of the theatre carrying equipment and bags of blood. Gon never believed but he prayed...prayed that his unbreakable sword could make it, prayed that Tae Eul was fine, prayed that all of this is over...

It was ten hours in until finally, the lead surgeon made an appearance as he walked out with a heavy aura.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Pyeha; Your majesty  
> *Mianhada; I'm sorry

**2020 Kingdom of Corea**

**Hospital**

As soon as the surgeon walked out, the royal guards whom Gon had ordered to sit while waiting jolted up (as he was quite sure that threats were not that prominent now that his murderous uncle is dead), Gon followed as well and walked up to the surgeon.

“Pyeha”, the surgeon greeted

“Just tell me one thing...is he alive?”, Gon asked desperately

“Yes, Pyeha”, the surgeon confirmed

Gon had never felt so relieved, thanking all the gods that heard his prayer to save his Yeongie. The royal guards also breathed a sigh of relief.

“Tell me how bad it is”, Gon ordered

“It was difficult, when the patient was brought in, he was entering shock due to blood loss and we had to bring him back before starting surgery...”, Gon unconsciously gasped at that, the surgeon paused and continued, “first we fixed the collarbone, it was shattered with severe structural damage, hence we secured it with a titanium plate. The subclavian artery was damaged as well but thankfully we were able to successfully repair it...although it did result to much of the blood loss”

“Does he still have full mobility given the damage?”, Gon asked worriedly, Yeong would never be able to live with himself being crippled...

“With intense physiotherapy, we are hopeful that it is possible.”, the surgeon explained, “on the other hand, the gunshot wound to his left arm only left tissue damage and we confirmed that he has a bruised kidney which we would have to monitor closely…In addition, he has a grade two laceration on his spleen, we are hoping that the bleeding would stop itself as his body cannot take on any more surgical stress. As for the collapsed lung, a chest tube has already been inserted in the field already so we’ll monitor it to prevent development of infection. We will put him in an induced coma and keep him on the ventilator to give his body rest...I have to say, this patient is very strong to be able to pull through.”

All of this was hard for Gon and fellow royal guards to take in. They just nodded silently to the new information given to them about their captain.

“Thank you for your hard work, I’ll be forever grateful. When will I be able to see him?”, Gon asked

“We’ll be finishing off some post op procedures which takes about 15 minutes and situate him in a VIP room. No need to thank me, it will always be my pleasure to serve,Pyeha”, the surgeon then excused himself humbly

“Ho Pil ah”, Gon called for the vice captain of the royal guards

“Yes Pyeha”, Ho Pil answered obediently

“Ask the closet team to prepare some casual clothes for me. And ask the PA team to make some excuses for my absence, I’ll be staying with Yeong for a while.”

“Yes Pyeha”

Gon then took a deep breath, “Run a security check of the vip room, you should all go see him first...I don’t think I’m ready yet.”

“Yes Pyeha”, All the guards bowed in unison and left leaving him alone again in the hallway...this time he let his tear flow…like the times he lost people close to him but this time hit different, it was Yeong…his unbreakable sword since they were kids. If Yeong is gone, who’s going to be his best friend? Who is he going to tease? Who will be the one nagging Gon about the importance of safety procedures? Gon could not bring himself to imagine a world without Yeong by his side.

The royal guards have already been and seen their captain. Gon could tell from their facial expressions that it was bad…like it was the end of the world. In Young was holding back her tears, Ho Pil was quiet as ever, Mi Reuk looked like he aged 10 years.

Now in a new set of clothes and after a few deep breaths, Gon finally had the courage to open the door to Yeong’s room. Although it was already morning, the room was dim. Gon slowly made his way to Yeong’s bedside and as he got closer, the tears start flowing again…even more than when Eun Seob got hurt during the new year incident, He cried then because Eun Seob could’ve been Yeong, and the thought of Yeong getting hurt to protect him haunts Gon. The sight of Yeong in front of him just wrecked Gon all over again…the duvet only covered up to Yeong’s waist, his arm and collarbone area is heavy bandaged the left arm placed in a sling to stabilise, but what bothered him the most was the amount of machines and IV drips around the bed keeping Yeong alive; leads attached to his chest, chest tube snaking out on the side and IV catheter taped onto his uninjured arm. The worst part was the vent, his Youngie can’t even breathe on his own…relying on a tube shoved down his throat and protruding out of his mouth secured with a tube holder covering almost half of his small face.

Gon collapsed onto the chair next to the bed, head hung low. “Mianhada Yeong ah”, he muttered, only to get the mechanical hiss of the ventilator and the steady beeping of the heart monitor as a reply. How he had wished Yeong would just open his eyes and tell him it’s okay, and scold him for being a king crying over his guard. Gon looked up to take in Yeong’s peaceful features, some colour returned unlike before he was paler than a sheet of paper, the nurses cleaned up his blood smeared face and his hair was down, the fringe just covering his eyebrow. It reminded Gon of Eun Seob, but of course, Eun Seob never got shot given the change of history. The fringe made Yeong look younger and less ‘serious’, reminding him of the cute bowl cut Yeong had when he was little.

Gon reached out to hold Yeong’s hand, since when did that cry baby grow so big? Reminiscing about their past made Gon smile, he remembered when Yeong was six, he fell off a tree when playing with Gon and broke both of his tiny arms. Ten year old Gon was terrified and Yeong wouldn’t stop crying, the only way was to distract him with cookies and sweets to create a window of opportunity for the royal doctors to set the bones of a fidgety six year old back to place. Little Yeong ended up with both arms in a cast for three months, occasionally getting teased by Gon about how the unbreakable sword couldn’t even hold up a sword, or how the unbreakable sword actually broke and was a scam. Yeong would then go on to give him the silent treatment for days…yes, he’s been exercising the silent treatment on Gon since he was six, if not younger.

Just like that, Gon fell asleep by Yeong’s side. Gripping on to the latter’s hand for dear life, afraid that his unbreakable sword would leave.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Pyeha; Your majesty

**2020 Kingdom of Corea**

**Hospital**

Gon woke up with a nudge from Ho Pil, he was reporting what he found on Kang Hyun Min and ‘Luna’, Turns outthey were only able to find info on Kang Hyun Min who became a cop and Luna must’ve gone with another name. Shots from CCTV snippets of Hyun Min was provided and that’s when Gon spotted Tae Eul, no, Luna’s face…he figured that the security did not recognise her as Luna because nobody knows what she looks like other than Gon. Maybe she is now working together with Hyun Min…Just like Tae Eul and Shin Jae before in Korea.

He dismissed Ho Pil, seeing the hurt in his eyes when the vice captain glances at his motionless captain on life support. Yeong is not out of the woods yet, there were still many unresolved problems such as his lacerated spleen and bruised kidneys. Gon placed a hand on Yeong’s forehead to see if there was a fever, a common sign of infection, thankfully there wasn’t. Gon sighed and decided to stretch out his limbs that ached from sleeping in that awkward position.

“Hang in there, unbreakable sword”, Gon said to Yeong, who only replied with the hiss from the ventilator as if it’s Yeong saying in an annoyed manner, ‘I have this stupid thing breathing for me, I don’t think I’ll die even if I wanted to’.

Gon was working through some paperwork when Yeong’s parents bursted through the door. “AIGOO, MY YEONG AH”, Yeong’s mother cried as she ran towards her son. She starts sobbing and caresses his face, and soon broke down onto the bedside chair.“Pyeha…thank you for looking after our yeong through the night”, Yeong’s father greeted Gon. Gon felt like he didn’t deserve the gratitude because Yeong is like this because of Gon. So Gon just nodded and excused himself to let Yeong’s parents have some personal space with their son.

Gon closed the door behind him and the royal guards outside saluted him.

“Ho Pil ah”

“Yes Pyeha”, Ho Pil answered, waiting for an order

“How has Yeong’s parents been these years?”, Gon suspected there must’ve been changes to their relationship or else they wouldn’t have come together

“From what I know, they have been closer than ever after having the twins”, Ho Pil answered blatantly

Gon almost choked…TWINS?! It means that Yeong, like Eun Seob, has his own set of Eun Bi and Kka Bi…and his parents never divorced. Oh my days…Yeong would probably wake up immediately after hearing this news. Gon assumed that Yeong would also have memories of the ‘past’ as his present self wasn’t in the respective time period when the changes happened.

“Pyeha…are you alright?”, Ho Pil was taken back by Gon’s sudden shock

“Oh, yea..nothing. Go order some food, I’m starving”, Gon dismissed the guard

Gon felt like he owed Yeong’s parents an explanation…their son is fighting for his life and nobody dares to ask the king what has happened to the captain of the royal guards. He figured that he’d tell Yeong’s father, as he was a friend of Gon’s father, so he’d know the legend of the manpasikjeok.

Gon called Yeong’s father aside to another private room and proceeded to explain how on the night of the treason back in 1994 which had killed Gon’s father-the former king of Corea-was meant to go another way, where Lee Lim gets away with half go the manpasikjeok and Gon possessing the other half. Then all the parallel world travelling happened which led to the great plan of returning to the night once more with yeong to kill Lee Lim once and for all and prevent the manpasikjeok from breaking. Explaining how that’s when Yeong got injured trying to protect young Gon.

All of this may have sounded like gibberish, but Gon was surprised that Yeong’s father took it in nicely. His father explained that he didn’t know the the legend of parallel worlds was actually real and said that he was proud that his son fulfilled his duty to protect the king even though Gon protested that it was all his fault and that Yeong shouldn’t have.

Yeong’s parents had to go home to take care of the twins leaving Gon alone with Yeong again. He understood that Yeong was in an induced coma so he can’t actually wake up if he wanted to, all the nurses and doctors would be checked thoroughly by the guards before entering and Gon would keep and eye out even though he’s reviewing paperwork.

It was all calm and peaceful until almost midnight, an alarm went off on the heart monitor, Gon can tell that Yeong’s heart rate and blood pressure are dropping. Doctors and nurses rushed in and did all sorts of tests, shining a penlight into Yeong’s eyes to check pupil reflex, listening to chest sounds and doing an ultrasound on the spleen just to find that the bleeding hasn’t stopped itself as the doctors hoped.

“We need to surgically stop the bleed, prep for an emergency op”, the doctors ordered.

Gon just stood aside and watched as the doctors skilfully detach Yeong from all the monitors and replacing the vent with an ambu bag. They started moving Yeong’s bed out of the room towards the operating theatre and once again Gon felt helpless…hell, he was the king and yet he couldn’t do anything to help Yeong.

“Yeong ah…please be alright”

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Pyeha; Your Majesty

**2020 Kingdom of Corea**

**Hospital**

Gon stayed in the room and fell asleep on one of the couches while waiting for Yeong’s emergency surgery to finish. He was just so tired from worrying about everything…how is Tae Eul doing? When will Yeong wake up? What else has changed in the worlds?

Gon dreamt, about the new memories, where his younger self was being rounded up by Lee Lim’s men but instead of the usual aftermath where Lee Rim would cut Gon’s neck, Gon found his younger self in the embrace of none other than Yeong…he could hear the painful groans from when he had taken a bullet and hear Yeong’s sigh of relief when confirming Gon’s pulse, Gon’s small hands reached up to hold onto Yeong’s, as if he himself at that time knew that Yeong was his unbreakable sword. Without Yeong, his younger self wouldn’t live till today…He owed Yeong his life.

He felt someone put something over his sleeping form, only to find that it was court lady Noh fixing a throw onto Gon. She had heard about the sudden change in Yeong’s condition and came over to do her talisman things and pray for his safety.

“Court lady Noh”, Gon called

“Yes Pyeha”, Court lady Noh replied with a soothing voice

“What am I to do…Yeong is like this because of me…I’m so scared of losing him”, a sudden burst of emotions escaped Gon and tears started falling again, just like he did at the end of hosting his father’s funeral. Court lady Noh was always comforting for Gon during these times and she’s the only one to have seen this vulnerable side of the king.

“Pyeha…you must stay strong so you don’t disappoint Yeong when he wakes up…He will not leave you knowing how much you are not willing to let him go”, Court lady Noh pulled Gon into an embrace and rubbed small circles on his back, letting the king cry all his feelings out. In the end, Gon was always that young and playful prince to court lady Noh, always making her worry with his mischievous ways.

Gon explained everything to her, but it was as if she knew already…she just kept on saying “I know…I know…”, like when Gon returned from time travelling the first time. But that technically didn’t happen…Court Lady Noh was always so understanding and Gon loved that about her.

Yeong returned from surgery after three hours, the surgeons explained that the operation was successful but given the amount of stress that his body has been through in such a short time, his immune system has been weakened significantly and is therefore more prone to catching an infection and visits should be limited. The doctor was not wrong to say that Yeong has weakened, hell, Yeong looked like a ghost and probably lost a shit ton of weight. They carefully situated him back into the room, hooking him up on all the monitors, IV and vent again.

Court Lady Noh held onto Yeong’s hand dearly, “Yeong ah, don’t stop fighting…our king depends on you…we all miss you at the palace…rest up and wake when you’re ready child…aigoo..”, Yeong and Gon are like grandsons to her, she can’t bare to see any of them get hurt during training let alone fighting for their lives after gun battles. She patted Yeong’s head carefully, feeling the softness of his hair between her wrinkled fingers. His handsome face have sunken in and partly obstructed by the vent, making her heart ache seeing him going through this. Yeong takes his duty to the heart, always have to know everything when going somewhere with the king, and when you make a joke he would give you a clueless look like a deer caught in the headlights. Court Lady Noh remembers that Yeong was not always like this, he was the only child brave enough to approach the young king and befriend him, helping him through hard times during his duty as a young king. Little Yeong would always come crying to Court Lady Noh when Gon teased him and she’d ask Gon to be nicer. Nevertheless, her plan had worked, she knew that Gon needed a companion after the death of his father and Yeong did more than she could ever ask for.

In the next few days, everything would stay the same, Gon was always by Yeong’s side and there were never more than two visitors each time. Myung Seung Ah from the PA office came by a few times, Gon had a hunch that she had a huge crush on Yeong, just like how Eun Seob was a pair with Myung Na Ri in Korea. It must be painful to see someone you love in this state, everytime she came, it was inevitable that she’d have tears in her eyes. She’d also show up for work reasons, the public is suspecting that something bad has happened because they haven’t seen the king or his popular royal guard for a while…Gon just ordered her to say that the captain was on holiday leave as he couldn’t really disclose what really happened. Time travel would just make him sound like a lunatic.

Seung Ah reminded Gon of Tae Eul, is this what she felt when he was poisoned? Damn, he must’ve been so mean to have just left without at word. He really misses her, and for the past few days he would slip out for 2 hours tops with Maximus to open different doors to different universes, but every time, he meets the wrong Tae Eul…At least she’s happy in all of them, that’s what gives him a little comfort. Gon would then come back and check on Yeong, and he’d just be lying there with the mechanical and rhythmic rise and fall of his chest supported by the vent. When the nurses come to disinfect the wounds, Gon would see the gruesome sight of stitched up flesh..Yeong would have to live with these scars…

It’s been a week since everything an the doctors are considering to slowly wean Yeong off the sedation, there was a fear of chest infection for being on the ventilator too long due to a build up of mucus in the lungs, still, that was a matter for when he wakes up.

Two days after they started to decrease the dosage of sedatives, Gon was reading some maths journal next to Yeong’s bed, and he swore he saw some movements at the corner of his eyes...Gon shifted his attention to Yeong’s right hand where the IV port was inserted…and after a few seconds, the fingers twitched.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Pyeha; Your majesty
> 
> A/N: Wow! Thank you all for the comments! I am forever grateful for your support and interest in the work. Haha am I being too harsh on Yeong 😅? All my fellow whump lovers out there must know that we were robbed of a precious whump opportunity in TKEM...Therefore I decided to present you with my own interpretation of what 'could've' happened (haha and maybe a little more). Again, I am thankful for all the love you give to the work and please don't forget to share your thoughts by leaving a comment! I do read all of them 😉!

**2020 Kingdom of Corea**

**Hospital**

_**Yeong’s POV** _

After I succumbed to darkness, I felt nothing. Did I even know how to think? Am I still alive? Then ‘events’-more like memories- started playing, it’s as if I’m having a really, really long dream, where one event leads to another, from when I first met Pyeha, whom I have called hyung back then, to us growing up together, having occasional fights and mostly messing around wildly, making the people of the palace really want to pull their hair out.

I dreamt about us exploring hidden paths in the palace and hyung threatening to leave me in the dark if I didn’t follow after him; and the time when I fell off the tree, haha the look on hyung’s face was priceless; then the timeline shifted to the point where I was old enough to decide what I wanted to do, and that is to live up to the title of the ‘unbreakable sword’, joining the navy and serving alongside his majesty was more than anything I could ask for; Then the events shifted to things that took place ‘recently’-the parallel worlds-Republic of Korea, Lieutenant Jung Tae Eul, Kang Shin Jae, Jo Eun Seob, Lee Lim…

OH RIGHT Lee Rim…Pyeha must’ve killed him, that’s why in the previous memories, little Pyeha had no fear of his uncle coming back and had no scar on his neck….and there’s also this strange addition to my ‘memory’, my parents don’t seem to be divorced and I have little twin siblings just like Jo Eun Seob’s Eun Bi and Kka Bi, Jesus, what if it’s real…..and then the scene turned to the night of the treason that Pyeha and I returned to, it’s strange, I literally (as a third person) watched myself pass out against the wall of the foundation, bleeding to death…Is this were the ‘dream’ ends?

Everything was black, it’s as if I’m floating in a dark void, and my five senses are slowly coming back to me…So I guess I’m not dead? Ugh, why is it so fucking hard to open my eyes, I feel weak as hell. I can feel a bit of my extremities, hmmmm, maybe try to move a finger? Honestly I don’t even know if I’m moving jackshit, but it’s worth a try.

Then I hear a voice..”Yeong?? Yeong-ah, can you hear me?”…Sounds all too familiar…it’s Pyeha…I need to wake up…Is he alright? He might be in danger! I’m struggling to the surface of consciousness, like I’m swimming so hard towards to surface of the ocean to where the light is…and I finally do…Literally using all my strength to open my fucking eyes, ugh I’m the captain of the Royal Guards and I can’t do so much as to open my own eyes?! “Yeong?? Can you open your eyes for me?”, I can hear Pyeha asking…can’t you see I’m trying!?

Then there it was, blinding light entering my eyes, and I squint at the sudden intrusion. Ok, better keep my eyes closed for now, everything is blurry anyway. I try to take a breath but something is blocking my airway, shit is somebody choking me?! Why can’t I breathe?! It’s like something is trying to force air into my lungs without my permission and completely off the pace to my liking. I manage to move my limp hands towards my mouth to try and get whatever it is out of the way and fuck my left side hurts like a bitch, but I can’t breathe! I need to pull out whatever it is these people put down my throat and see Pyeha…but some dude just pinned my arms down, I try to break free but I can’t seem to find strength in my arms, whoever it is, wait till I gain my full strength and finish you!

I’m literally suffocating, I can hear someone shouting stuff like“calm down”, “you’re panicking too much”, bruh, I’m suffocating and calming down is the last thing I need to do. I open my eyes again to find a few blurred figures over me, wow, now they’re ganging up on one man. I try to fight with my legs but then I feel it being pinned down as well. What the hell is happening?? I’m about to ‘pass out’ if that makes sense…as if on cue, I suddenly lost all energy and feel my limbs go limp as I fall into endless darkness again…

_**Third person POV** _

After seeing Yeong’s fingers twitch, Gon jolted up and almost screamed in excitement, his Yeong is finally waking up! He can see that Yeong is fighting his way back to consciousness.”Yeong?? Yeong-ah, can you hear me?”, Gon asked hopefully, holding Yeong’s hand. He can see the eyelids moving slightly, but it’s a big progress already, “Yeong?? Can you open your eyes for me?”, and there it was…the dark brown eyes Gon haven’t seen for more than a week but felt like an eternity. Although, he closed them up again quickly, his brows furrowing and eyes squinting. It must be the lights Gon figured.

All of a sudden, Yeong starts choking on the vent, gagging on the tube down his throat…’oh no..whats about to come is bad.’, Gon thought. And it sure did go bad…he can tell that Yeong is panicking from the elevated heart rate, he starts moving his hands towards his mouth, trying to claw onto the tube with uncoordinated hands, probably trying to pull it out…but he saw a hint of pain on the younger man’s face when he moved the left sides, “shit”, Gon thought, “He’d hurt himself even more from moving”, Gon quickly pinned down Yeong’s arm, making sure not to use too much force on his injured side, Yeong was so strangely weak, unable to fight back, only weakly struggling beneath him. This hurt Gon, usually Yeong could easily win him in any combats.

“HO PIL AH GET SOMEONE IN NOW”, Gon yelled for the vice captain who was guarding outside.

“Yeong ah, please don’t be difficult…calm down…..you’re panicking too much, it’ll hurt you”, Gon muttered, hoping that Yeong could hear him somewhere in there, he saw Yeong’s eyes open up again, but to find that it was full of confusion…and anger? Either way, he knows that the man thrashing beneath him is long gone and it’d be useless to try and talk sense into him.

In seconds, Ho Pil bursted in with a bunch of doctors and nurses, shocked by the scene before him, Yeong squirming in his majesty’s hold as he gags painfully on the vent, the heart monitor going crazy with the elevated heart rate.

“Ho Pil grab his legs! He’s getting combative!”, Gon ordered

Ho Pil quickly followed the orders and went to hold down his captain’s legs, guessing he was trying to kick the people around him but is too weak to do so…It hurts to see his captain, whom he looks up to, weak and powerless…The doctors finally managed to inject a dose of sedatives, and Yeong slowly calms and goes limp and back to unconsciousness. That’s when everyone was ok with letting go.

It was both a sigh of relief and worry for everyone; relieved that Yeong woke up and worried that this might happen again when he wakes up next. He ripped some stitches and had to be patched up again by the nurses. Gon had the respiratory team to come and assess Yeong to see if they could get him off the vent…after taking some x-rays and observing his breathing, they finally gave the green light to extubate him and replace the vent with an oxygen mask. Gon really did not want to put restraints on his Yeongie to stop him from hurting himself just because he was panicking about a foreign object blocking his airway.

It was nice to see more of Yeong’s face again, even if it was under an oxygen mask, fogging up as he breathes. Gon is relieved that he can now do it on his own, meaning that he’s getting better. And certainly from all the fuss that happened before, he know’s that Yeong’s stubbornness is still in him.

“Yeong ah, I’ll be waiting for you to wake up next”, Gon said as he brushed his hand over Yeong’s hair.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Pyeha; Your/his Majesty
> 
> A/N: Thank you for all the positive and reflective comments! I am beyond grateful for every one of your attention and anticipation to this story. And...Yeong is finally back!

**2020 Kingdom of Corea**

**Hospital**

_**Yeong’s POV** _

I can feel consciousness creeping back into me again. Okay Jo Yeong, you got this. This time you’ll open up your eyes first and scan surroundings for threat. Thankfully, it’s much easier to do this task today. The light hurt my eyes a little but after blinking a few times, my vision starts clearing up, clearly I’m lying on a bed…in the hospital? Probably the VIP suite. I keep hearing this rhythmic beeping next to me, probably the heart monitor…ok, now the big task…breathe…carefully I take in a lungful of air and thank god, nothing is in my airway, I realised that there is an oxygen mask over my face, but better than whatever it was the last time I woke. Ahhh feels nice to be awake. I tried to swallow a bit of my saliva but my throat was dryer than the fucking Sahara desert, sore too, throwing me into an incontrollable coughing fit…

It was then that someone stirred awake next to me, whom I didn’t even know was there..well, you’ve only been awake for less than a minute, give it a break Jo Yeong. In between my coughs I manage to look at the person who rose from their slumber, and it was none other than Pyeha himself, my eyes widened in shock, why is he here? Did he succeed? Is he okay? He seemed more shocked than I am though, “Yeong ah, tell me, what’s wrong?”, Pyeha asked frantically. I manage to croak out “w-wa—t-ee-r”.It felt strange asking pyeha to get me water, but desperate times calls for desperate measures. He helped me sit up and removed the oxygen mask, holding the straw in place for me to sip some life saving water…at last, I feel alive again.

After that, I looked around the room properly, and at myself, my left arm rests in a sling while my right hand has an IV port, the thick bandaging across my collarbone explains for the pain I felt last time. I pulled up my shirt to find another bandage on my abdomen (did they open me up? I didn’t know it was that bad…at least it didn’t feel like it) and holy fuck, I have chest tube in me! Shivers start travelling down my spine…this has to go…ASAP. They must’ve hooked me up on some top class painkillers because I don’t feel a thing now, but my reaction to it makes me feel loopy and nauseous. A headache is setting in and I feel like I’m gonna puke if I sit up for too long, right when I was about to lie back down, I felt it...oh no, I need to puke but I don’t know where to, I just turn to the side on instinct and dubbed over the bed rail and emptied out the contents of whatever the hell is left in me. The aftertaste was nasty, and the motion did not help with my really sore throat and pain starts shooting up my whole body...I feel like I’m gonna pass out again and that’s when Pyeha caught me falling back into the bed, he lay me down slowly and just said, “It’s Okay”. What is he doing? He shouldn’t be doing this for me...did he break his brain from time traveling?

He must’ve read my confused expression, I just puked in front of the King of Corea and he’s literally treating me like I’m the King...We’ve been together since we were kids buts it’s been a while from when he last acted so...so...attentive. Sighs, he shouldn’t, I’m completely ruining his image.

_**Third person POV** _

It was early morning when all this happened. Gon had just fallen asleep by Yeong for a few hours after having to spend the night on paperwork and meeting with secretary Mo.

Gon was woken up by someones coughing, his senses quickly realised that it was none other than Yeong, he stands up, shocked, and moves into Yeong’s sight. Yeong is somehow shocked too but his eyes are already teary from coughing. After resolving the cough, Gon gave Yeong a moment to himself. Gon can literally hear what’s going on in Yeong’s mind as he looks at the younger man take in the new surroundings and assess his own condition. But then Yeong suddenly started panicking and searched around for something desperately, the next second, Yeong is leaning over and puking on the floor. Gon can hear the pain he is in as Yeong wretches and nothing much comes out, Gon quickly catches him as he starts falling back into bed, ‘he’ll hurt even more if he crashes into bed like that’, Gon thought. Yeong gave him a weird look at this sudden action of Gon, Gon realized it must be strange for Yeong to have Gon treat him like Tae Eul or something, so he dismissed Yeong’s confusion, “it’s okay”.

After laying Yeong back down, Gon took a seat next to him again, putting the oxygen mask on for him to which Yeong gave him a strange look, he knows that the other man hated these ‘extra’ things. “You had two major surgeries, just came out of a coma, removed from the ventilator two days ago, and you’re certainly not iron man. So keep this on. That’s an order”, Gon insisted. He knew that Yeong didn’t have any energy to talk back because his eyes are fluttering slowly, as if he’s going to drift off to dreamland again, but somehow Yeong is fighting the drowsiness.

“You want to know what happened to you and everything else?”, Gon asked, figuring that this would put Yeong’s mind at ease and allow himself to rest

“Yes Pyeha”, Yeong whispered under the mask, almost inaudible, but there. Gon was so happy to hear his unbreakable sword talk again.

Gon brought out the complete manpasikjeok from his inner pocket and showed Yeong, “This happened…After killing Lee Lim, I rushed back to the Cheonjongo to get you, we travelled back to 2020 Corea and we’ve been here ever since”, Gon then took a deep breath before continuing, “You got hurt because of me”, Gon confessed with a guilty look, “You’ve been out for a little over a week before you first woke up, I don’t know if you remember…but it wasn’t nice…”

Of course Yeong remembered, he closed his eyes to try and repress the bad memory of suffocating on what he finally learned was the ventilator. “I don’t remember”, he lied, not wantingboth sides to explore that horrible memory again, “And no..its not because of you…I knew the risks….And I told you…that it was my last chance to protect you…as captain of the royal guards….and as your unbreakable sword…..”, Yeong explained with all the energy left in him, his voice quiet, hoarse and weak.

Gon reached out to hold Yeong’s hand, “Thank you…Really…unbreakable sword….without you I would not be alive...”, To that Yeong couldn’t do anything but lightly squeeze Gon’s hand and fall asleep again as he finally allows tiredness to take over him after getting the answers he needed. This reminded Gon of that night, in the new memory, the way Yeong’s hands squeezed little Gon’s hand, as if telling him it’s all okay. It’s all over. “Rest up, unbreakable sword”, Gon whispered.

Gon was so happy that day, he slipped out for two hours again to find Tae Eul amongst the other worlds. This time, it was worry free, he didn’t have to rush back and check on Yeong as something might’ve happened while he was gone. When he returned at night he was glad to see that Yeong had woken up again, and surrounded by his royal guard colleagues, everyone was so happy so see him up and…whispering. Yeong had little energy in him and being on the vent for so long didn’t help with the projection of volume at all. But everyone was understanding and let it slide. Apparently the first thing he asked Ho Pil to do was to have someone remove the chest tube, Gon knew that that thing would make Yeong squirm and bother him a lot. The poor doctors had to put up with Yeong’s temper- it’s even worse when he’s not in good condition.

When it got late, everyone retired, and guards on the next shift were stationed outside the door. Yeong looked like he was going to nod off again until he suddenly called for Gon, “Pyeha…”, Gon stopped whatever he was doing and rushed to Yeong’s side and started bombarding the sick man with questions, “Eoh Yeong ah, what’s wrong? What do you need? Are you hurting somewhere?”.

Yeong shook his head lightly, “I had a dream…that my parents weren’t divorced and I had twin siblings like Eun Seob…is that true?”, Yeong asked out of curiosity

Gon realised that Yeong must’ve recovered the new memories when he was in a coma, “I was just wondering whether you had changes to your memory, and I guess I have my answer now…Yes, it’s true, about your parents and the twins. Speaking of which, your parents are coming to see you tomorrow. It’s really awkward to picture them together again.”

Yeong just smiled to himself at that news, Gon didn’t how to take that and smiled with him too. “What? Feeling the pressure to be a big brother?”, Gon joked

“Nope, I’m pretty sure my time with the republic twins have prepared me well for this”, Yeong chuckled.

“And Pyeha, now that I’m awake, you don’t have to stay here with me…I heard you never left while I was in a coma…You shouldn’t dismiss your duties for me…Aren’t you going to look for Lieutenant Jung?”, Yeong felt guilty to occupy the king

“Stop worrying, I’ll stay here as long as I like. As for Tae Eul, I have been exploring multiple universes but to no avail yet.”, Gon explained with a hint of disappointment when mentioning Tae Eul

“Eun Seob…”, the name slipped out of Yeong’s mouth unconsciously, Gon knew that the two had gotten closer, it must be hard to accept that Eun Seob would have no memories of Yeong…Just like how Tae Eul wouldn’t remember Gon…

Yeong felt guilty for not being able to keep his promise to Eun Seob, his vision is becoming blurry as tears build up in his eyes, since when did he become so emotional? Maybe its Eun Seob’s personality growing on him. Noting that Gon was still there, he quickly wiped away the tears and pulled up his duvet cover to his chest, signalling that he was going to sleep…but actually, he just wanted Gon to be far enough so that he wouldn’t hear him sob. Gon emphasised with Yeong, knowing that it would take a while for the emotions to heal…but he gave the latter space and retired to his makeshift bed on the couch and closed his eyes, carrying the thought of Tae Eul to sleep.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Pyeha; Your/his majesty  
> *Eomma; Mom

**2020 Kingdom of Corea**

**Hospital**

Third week in, Yeong was now breathing without any external help from oxygen masks or nasal cannulas, but his breathing remained shallow and slow. He’d try and put up a tough face when the nurses disinfected the wounds but Gon could always tell that he’s hurting inside. Yeong was finally able to meet his ‘new’ siblings too, sometimes surprised by how much they resembled Eun Seob’s siblings. They even have the same nicknames, Eun Bi was as smart as her older brother (Yeong) just like Eun Seob’s Eun Bi but minus the fact of Eun Seob being smart. Seeing his parents together again was also awkward as ever, although his parents would never know why Yeong would give that ‘judging’ look from time to time as they had no memory of being divorced.

Yeong also managed to nag the shit out of Gon, telling him to go back to the palace, saying that the public needed a king and that he’ll be fine alone. Hence Gon now only visits every other day. He also noticed Myung Seung Ah stopping by more often, she’d bring flowers and signed cards but he thinks they’re just excuses so that she could come see him…Yeong is pretty sure people at the palace won’t miss him _that_ much. Yeong smiles to himself, Pyeha had told him that Seung Ah definitely has a crush on Yeong and Yeong could really see it through now.

Seung Ah was peeling an apple when she accidentally cuts herself, “ouch!”, she exclaimed suddenly, making Yeong jump a little and gave her the ‘seriously?’ look.

“Be more careful, if you’re not good at it don’t force yourself to do it”, Yeong sighed and pulled a tissue from the nightstand and wrapped it around the cut to try and control the bleed. Seung Ah’s heart is pounding like crazy, it’s as if she just ran a marathon, the thumping loud in her ears. She doesn’t even realise herself freezing and staring at Yeong, who is _holding_ her hand and tending to her cut with his good arm. ‘Omg he’s so cool even when he’s being caring…and he’s _holding_ MY HAND’, Seung Ah fangirled internally.

“Are you going to keep staring like that or actually go and get a bandaid from a nurse or something”, Yeong disrupted Seung Ah’s thoughts, her face becoming red immediately and jumps up from her seat.

“Y-yeah I’ll do that…thanks”, she stuttered before running out of the room, “this woman..” Yeong said to himself as he watched Seung Ah clumsily try to open the door to escape.

It wasn’t until the middle of the third week when the inevitable happened, Yeong started developing a fever and it meant that an infection was setting in his lungs, possibly leading to pneumonia. Which he also dreaded himself because it meant that things were getting complicated and he’d be cooped up here for even longer. He was limited to only one visitor, mostly it’d be his mother, her heart ached as she wipes away beads of sweat forming on her son’s forehead and combing back the wet hair stuck onto his skin.

He’s delirious most of the times, barely able to open up his eyes to greet his mother, his system is flushed with antibiotics and painkillers, making him feel like shit most of the days and he’d just sleep through them. On bad days, he’d either be dry heaving or puking out whatever is left in him. His mother would have to change him out of sweat drenched hospital gowns twice over the night.

He’s glad that only his mother is here to see this side of him, she worked as a nurse before so she knew what Yeong was going through and didn’t mind any of it. Yeong may be the toughest royal guard or the ‘unbreakable sword?’ (It’s one of the strange things that she hears in Yeong’s mutters), Yeong will always be her son with a soft heart that still jumps when he sees a cockroach and calls her crying when things were hard. Had it been Pyeha to see Yeong in this state, he’d rather hide away somewhere and never see the light of day again, who needs some weak puking dude to be their unbreakable sword?

Sometimes Yeong would blabber random things, his head is burning so bad with fever that he doesn’t really care to think about what comes out of his mouth, he’d talk about returning to his position as captain to protect the king asap or refusing to eat because things hurt. Both of which made his mother slap him back to his senses and he’d give her a slight temper.

Yeong was always closer to his mother during the ‘divorce period’ so naturally he still prefers her over his father now. When he was younger, he was always the mama boy and behind Yeong’s cold demeanour as captain, there was always a warm side to him and is still secretly a mama boy. There was no need for him to act tough in front of her since she’s seen it all, he’d cry to her when things hurt and charm her by acting cute to apologise when he made her upset.

He’d be too weak to cough out the mucus caused by the pneumonia and the doctors would use the very invasive way- lung suction. Yeong fucking hated it, even though he was on painkillers, there’d be tears in his eyes and he’d grip onto his mother’s hand with all the energy left in him, if he was in healthy condition, he think he’d break her hand. His mother would just tell him to let it out, “It’s okay to cry Yeong ah, eomma is here”, she’d say softly, and Yeong would cry softly in her embrace until he falls asleep from tiredness. Falling asleep while holding her hand was the best medicine for Yeong.

Coughing made everything hurt, sometimes if he moved too much his shoulder/collar would protest with a sharp pain. Although the incision sight for his spleen surgery didn’t bother him that much. Yeong realised that the king hadn’t stopped by for a while since catching the infection, maybe he knew that Yeong wanted space or he’s still caught up in his search for Lieutenant Jung.

But Gon actually stopped by with Seung Ah from time to time, they just didn’t go inside to see Yeong because they knew that Yeong wouldn’t want Gon (or Seung Ah) to see him like that. It’s was one of the bad days and when Gon arrived alone, he could read Ho Pil’s worried expression.

“Pyeha”, Ho Pil greeted

“How is he?”, Gon sighed

“Not great, it was a sleepless night for both Captain Jo and his mother. The fever was acting up again and doctors had to administer intense treatment for the pneumonia. We’d also hear the occasional vomiting when he reacts badly to the drugs”, Ho Pil shook his head, expression becoming heavier, “We could hear it all from out here and it hurts to hear Captain Jo in pain”, he admitted

Of course, it hurt Gon too...He knew that Yeong always hated painkillers but didn’t know it’d make him react like this, he’d suggest to Yeong about changing them but Yeong would just dismiss it and say he’d react the same with all painkillers. Yeong would reject them sometimes, but then it’d be too painful for him to get proper rest and end up taking them. With a sigh, Gon turns around to leave. Guess like it’s not the day to show up. He felt empty inside, unable to help Yeong.

When the pneumonia and infection was finally dying down, Yeong was finally ‘conscious’. He had little recollection of what actually happened the last few days other than having the impression that it was hell. He begged for his mother to take him out. He’d been bedridden for too long and needed a change of scenery. After a series of nagging and convincing, his mother finally agreed. He gotta admit, he’s quite good at nagging.

He ordered Ho Pil to keep it a secret from Pyeha as he knows that the king would be furious to learn that a fragile Yeong has the guts to sneak out. But it’s not like he’s leaving the hospital premises and he could get help if he needed. After this whole ordeal, the guards got closer to their captain, learning the softer side of him but also respecting his orders when he gets serious. It’s always hard for them to get used to seeing Yeong with a fringe and in a hospital gown, being so sweet to his family members but like a cold iceberg to his coworkers.

He refused a wheelchair, and decided to walk on his own, but that mission failed as soon as he set foot on the ground, barely eating and relying on IV drips for nutrients made him shed weight fast and weak. His legs buckled when he tried to stand, thank god his mother was there to catch him and giving him the ‘I told you so’ look. Still he insisted on walking, so his mother could only compromise, she wasn’t in the mood to put up with his stubbornness. She let him lean on her as they walked around, his good arm around her back and walking at the speed of a turtle…but it was all Yeong ever wanted. Anything but that stupid room. He'd probably developed claustrophobia from being stuck there for that long.

Little did Yeong know, Gon was looking from afar…seeing Yeong up and about is nice but he should be resting! Does that man really want to be beheaded!? But seeing Yeong’s rare smile dismissed all of Gon’s worries, just four weeks ago Gon didn’t know whether he’d ever see Yeong awake again. He has to admit that the first two weeks was the hardest, Gon had sleepless nights, haunted by the thought of Yeong not pulling through…”Yeong ah, don’t put your body through this again because of me”.

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Pyeha; Your/his majesty  
> *Eommeoni; A way to address someone’s mother  
> *Satoori; Korean accent (in this case, it’s the Busan Satoori that Jo Eun Seob uses)  
> *Arasseo; ‘Okay’/‘I understand’  
> *Noona; ‘Older sister, masculine’  
> *Hyung; ‘Older brother, masculine’  
> *Heol; korean slang, equivalent to ‘omg’, used to express shock/surprise
> 
> A/N: Sorry for the delayed update, as this is the last chapter I was constantly adding and tweaking things so that there’ll be a nice and conclusive ending. And of course, thank you for all the support and love to this fic! I couldn’t ask for more! Your comments were all so kind and motivating! So to thank you all for the love, I decided to write bonus chapters so please look forward to them! Once again, thank you so much for your love and interest in this story!

** 2020 Kingdom of Corea **

** Hospital **

When Yeong and his mother returned to the room, they were greeted by Gon waiting for them on one of the couches.

“Pyeha”, the mother and son greeted, a bit surprised by Gon’s sudden visit

Gon nodded in acknowledgment, “Sorry for showing up without notice, but do you mind if I have Yeong alone for a minute eommeoni?”, Gon asked Yeong’s mother politely

“Yes certainly, and you don’t have to apologize for showing up, you’re always welcome here and you’ve been helping us take care of Yeong when we couldn’t be here!”, Yeong’s mother dismissed, she helped Yeong settle back into the bed and left the room.

The atmosphere was getting tenser by the second, Gon looked at Yeong, figuring that the younger man would not talk first as he is trying hard to escape Gon’s eye contact by looking around the room or picking on the IV tape on his arm.

“You look well”, Gon broke the silence

“Thanks”, Yeong replied shortly, still not meeting Gon’s gaze

Gon sighed, why is Yeong being like this? Is he still suffering from an unresolved infection? Does he need to call someone in? Or did he do something wrong that upset him?

“I’m fine”, Yeong finally added, sensing Gon’s unease, “I just don’t know what to say...if you’re going to ask how the past week was, I have little recollection of it”

“It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me all that...I just came to sort out some things”

Yeong was starting to become restless too, is Gon going to fire him? Has he found a replacement? 

Gon hesitated a little but in the end decided to be brave and let it out, “I was thinking..after all this...I don’t want to see you going through all this again...because of me....and because you’re not just the captain of the royal guards but also my only best friend...”, Gon confessed with great sorrow in his eyes

Yeong finally turned his head to make eye contact, his mind trying to wrap around what his friend just said...”so what do you want to do”, Yeong asked coldly but Gon could see a hint of nervousness in his eyes

“Y-Yeong ah…”, Honestly, Gon didn’t know what to do, he’s lost for words, the first time he felt like this towards Yeong.

Yeong couldn’t take this any longer, he didn’t understand why Gon would feel such guilt even though Yeong brought it upon himself, it’seven making him feel a bit frustrated…“Like I told you before, there are orders you give that I have to go against simply because I cannot allow myself to dismiss the duties of my purpose, and that is to protect you, my king. I cannot allow myself to let you go into warzones alone because I know that at least someone should have your back when things go unexpectedly. Wherever I feel there is danger, I will go with you, knowing all the risks, it is my own will to get hurt while protecting and protect when I’m hurt, so it is not ever your fault. Because until the day you are a normal civilian of Corea, I will not leave your side, Pyeha.”, At the end both men had tears in their eyes, understanding that sometimes, the inevitable will eventually happen- Consequences follow the choices they live by. 

Gon dropped his head, trying to collect his emotions. He understood what Yeong was trying to say and he knows there is no way he could go against his stubbornness, “I just don’t want to lose you again like that…I couldn’t even say goodbye to you…”, Gon croaked out quietly. This twisted Yeong’s heart, he didn’t like making his king feel this way because of him. Wiping away the tears in his eyes, he reached out a hand and patted Gon’s shoulder lightly, “It’s okay hyung…I am here now. I won’t go anywhere without your order”, Yeong tried to comfort the sulking man, He didn’t know why he addressed him as ‘hyung’ but it just felt right…at this moment.

“It’s been too long since you called me that”, Gon chuckled, wiping away his tears and looking up at Yeong who’s giving him a rare reassuring smile.

“Yeah it really has…”, Yeong acknowledged, “I remember I was the only one calling you that when we were kids because I refused to call you anything else”

“Heh, and your stubbornness is still here”, Gon remarked, “that’s what gets you hurt…like the tree incident”

“In my defence, if I had longer legs then, I wouldn’t have missed the footing”, Yeong argued, “And having both my arms casted in one of the hottest summers of Corea was pure hell, and you didn’t help at all by constantly making fun of me”

Gon laughed at the funny memory, making Yeong look at him in disbelief, “be honest, you never felt sorry did you?”, Yeong asked in annoyance. 

“You brought it upon yourself”, Gon teased between his laugh, “You should’ve seen your face when I said I was going to play with other kids”

Yeong sighed, realising he’d being teased again. “I’m going to sleep”, Yeong proceeds to turn his back on Gon and give him the silent treatment

“Yeong ah, are you mad?”, Gon poked on Yeong’s shoulder jokingly, he always find it funny when Yeong gives him the silent treatment, “Come on Yeong ah~Jo Yeong~unbreakable sword~”

“Turn off the lights on your way out and send my mother home”, Yeong replied coldly

“Yah, no matter what it is, I shouldn’t be the one doing this! Do you want to be beheaded for ordering the king?”- _no reply_ -“Jeez, you’re starting to act like Eun Seob, where’s my unbreakable sword?!”, Gon protested even more, only to get the cold shoulder in return. 

** Time skip **

After a few days, Yeong’s infection and pneumonia finally cleared up. This was honestly the best Yeong has ever felt during all of this.He’s starting to eat more and his usual personality is returning, his mission now is to get stronger and get discharged asap.

“Son, eat slowly, you’ll choke”, his mother said worriedly as she wiped away some sauce he got on his face, enjoying the sight of her son devour the food she prepared. It’s better than having him not eat anything at all..That’s when her heart really hurt. To look at her child too ill to even eat.

Yeong only smiled back at her, mouth full of delicious food he ate growing up. Later on, he walked around for a little and talked to Ho Pil about the security measures in the palace and when the king was out in the public during the days he was gone. When his mother returned home, he occupied himself with reports he had asked In Young to deliver, as captain, he cannot miss out anything. But for Gon, it was frustrating to see his guard already working when he’s not even discharged!

“Ya Jo Yeong, if you don’t stop looking at the reports now, you’ll be beheaded”, Gon threatened

Yeong seems to be unbothered, “There has been new regulations after the ‘change’ and I need to familiarise myself with it”

“I won’t even allow you to come back to work until at least a month after your discharge, and even so, it’ll be desk duty for 3 weeks!”, Gon insisted

Yeong looked up to Gon defeated, “But Pyeha, why a month? I don’t mind desk duty but that blank period is too long!”

“There is no negotiation, I am not having my unbreakable sword back to my side unless he’s 120%. So make sure you go to your physio sessions, if you miss one, then your leave will extend by 3 days”, Gon ordered

Gon knows that he just slayed Yeong and smiled internally at his victory. “yes Pyeha”, Yeong agreed reluctantly

A few days later Yeong was finally cleared for discharge, even putting on clothes that is not a hospital gown excited him, but he kept those feelings to himself. His arm was still in a sling as great movements still hurt. He had Ho Pil pick him up to go to his apartment. Was it even the same address? Apparently Ho Pil knew the place so Yeong spared himself the embarrassment of possibly giving the wrong address to his own apartment. When they arrived, it was thankfully the same place. But the furniture is more...Homey?

Things were a little inconvenient using only one hand, but nothing he couldn’t get by. In the next few days he’d learn about any changes in Corea’s history, especially within the royals and politics, and think about the relationships he lost or gained since the ‘change’. Often new memories would come to him in his dreams but he would feel upset when thinking about how some memories were no longer ‘real’...he’d think about Eun Seob, what is that idiot doing now? Did he finally have the courage to confess to Na Ri?  How are the twins? Yeong would find himself staring into space while his mind is occupied with those thoughts, there’d even be the occasional tears when he felt the loneliness...other than Gon, no one else could relate to what happened prior to everything, all the feelings and memories remained fresh in Yeong but he had no one to share to.

Myung Seung Ah stopped by often to make food and made sure he took his medications, she did most of the talking and Jo Yeong was just being Jo Yeong, eating his food with a bitch face, giving Seung Ah a hard time to depict whether he was enjoying the conversation or not. ‘She nags more than me’, Yeong thought to himself while she was busy talking about how important it is to eat well. But she didn’t mind, because she missed this cool, handsome, cold Jo Yeong so much. He looks better every time she visits and he even gained some weight he lost when hospitalised, he didn’t seem ‘weak’ or ‘vulnerable’ anymore, because she knows that Jo Yeong would never let those words remain as phrases used to describe him. 

“I can do it myself”, Yeong said coldly to Seung Ah who was about to crouch down to help him tie his shoelaces, she was the one to take him to physio today. 

Seung Ah gave him the ‘really?’ look, “You’re the first person I have come across to claim that they could tie their shoelace with one hand”, Yeong ignored her and sat down on the floor proceeding to try and tie the laces with his right hand and some help from the left, although Yeong quickly realized that it was a bad decision when a sharp numbing pain shot up his left side. 

Seung Ah couldn’t take it anymore with this child and took over, “ _tsk tsk tsk_ , I can see your wince from a mile away. You don’t have to prove anything to me, I’m not here to judge. I’m here because I don’t want you to get hurt even more...and I don’t want to be beheaded by Pyeha for not taking good care of you”, Seung Ah explained while she tied Yeong’s shoelaces, Yeong could only look at the woman before him with a ‘what on earth is happening’ expression whilst feeling a little embarrassed. He felt somewhat comfortable with Seung Ah doing all this for him, and he’d question whether it’s because of the affection that Eun Seob had for Na Ri growing on him.

Seung Ah looked up when she finished and found herself face to face with Yeong, “Heol, he even looks handsome when he’s confused”, shit-did she speak her mind again? “I can hear you....and don’t speak of Pyeha like that”, Yeong confirmed her thought coldly. Seung Ah shot up quickly, “I’mgoingtogetthecarready”, the embarrassed woman blurted and ran out the door, leaving Yeong alone on the floor, looking down at the neat knots on his shoe and smiled, ‘kinda cute’, he thought. Although his smile quickly faded when he realised what he was doing, ‘omg Jo Yeong, what the hell are you doing?! You must be crazy!’, Yeong mocked himself internally.

Jo Yeong gave Gon the silent treatment for weeks, knowing that it would soon break Gon’s patience and he’ll ask for a negotiation sooner or later. Yeong managed to proceed through physiotherapy smoothly and regained over 70% of motion within three weeks, but he hated going to each session, feeling sorry for Ho Pil or Seung Ah who had to be stuck in the car with a grumpy and sensitive Jo Yeong, even more so for his poor physiotherapist...Yeong’s death glare could really kill someone. 

Gon appealed for negotiation after a month of silent treatment and proposed to Yeong with 1.5 weeks of desk duty instead if he just starts talking to Gon again. Yeong happily accepted and delivered after getting what he wants from the king..and best friend. His coworkers were so happy to have him back, but they wished that the Jo Yeong who returned was that sweet and caring person they had got to know back at the hospital and not the god of seriousness...Yeong went about his yapping ways as soon as he set foot in the palace, giving the fellow royal guards a hard time. Their only saviour is their mighty King, Gon, who would force Yeong to go on leaves when he thinks that the captain is overworking himself. 

Yeong would go and visit the twins at his parents house frequently, he never knew that he’d have the capacity in him to want to protect another two human beings as much as he’d want to protect the king, not going to lie, Yeong kinda wished he had siblings too when taking care of Eun Seob’s twins. Now he’s thrilled to have siblings of his own but hates the babysitting when his parents had plans…They’re strange animals with a shit load of energy, Yeong would pass out after spending 30 minutes with them. He decided that a new punishment to give upon his fellow royal guards is to make them babysit his helpless energetic siblings. 

The twins will give him a strange look when Yeong accidentally speaks to them with satoori, a habit that has formed when going undercover as Eun Seob.

Yeong was napping on the couch when he heard what sounded like wooden sticks battering against each other, he opened his eyes to find the twins having a sword fight with brooms.

“Yah yah yah! How many times do I have to say that someone can get hurt if you guys play like that! Don’t y’all remember how y’all almost hit my head last time?!”, he scolded while half awake...and it was then he realized that he might have spoken satoori and slapped himself internally....the twins stopped immediately and looked towards Yeong.

“Oppa, why are you speaking like that? You must still be sick, your brain is not working right”, Eun Bi retorted while placing a hand on his forehead to see if a fever is making her brother act strange.

“No, my brain is working perfectly normal okay?”, Yeong hugged her to dismiss her worries, Eun Bi always being the observant one and exposing him.

“But if you are feeling sick, you have to tell me okay?”, She escaped from his embrace and ordered her brother in all seriousness. Her eyes scary like Yeong’s. She’s been all protective over Yeong ever since he got discharged.

“Arasseo Noona~”, Yeong smiled reassuringly at his cute baby sister

Eun Bi is like the eldest sibling, bossing around her helpless brothers- one of them is like an old man that only knows how to fight and passes out on the couch 90% of the times, and the other is a complete cry baby with a kind heart. Meaning that he’s constantly bullied by other classmates in school and she’ll have to defend him with the intimidating taekwondo moves she learned.

**A year later**

**2021 Kingdom of Corea**

Jo Yeong and Lee Gon return to their usual routines, Yeong would always be frustrated when Gon sneaks out for his parallel universe travels to look for Tae Eul and Gon would always bore Yeong with his mathematical theories. Certainly, Yeong also had his own secrets. He finally realised his feelings for Seung Ah and the two decided to date secretly…like agents in a spy movie. 

When they would go out for public events, Gon always had this unease of Yeong getting hurt again by shielding him from danger, there was no way to stop him from doing that so he would sometimes bribe Yeong, saying that he’d actually wear the stupid bulletproof vest if Yeong would stop being so ‘willing to sacrifice himself’. Gon knows that sort of twists the meaning of being the ‘unbreakable sword’ but he’d do anything to stop the event from a year ago to happen again.

From time to time, Yeong would go to the Palace library and read the logged diaries about things that happened within the palace, specifically about that night in 94’. Reminding himself that he’s worthy of being the unbreakable sword because without Jo Yeong, there’ll be no great king of Corea, Lee Gon.

-END-


	10. Bonus 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quick one-shot. A trip down memory lane, what really happened during the 'tree incident'.

**1996 Kingdom of Corea**

It was a warm summer day outside and 6 year old Jo Yeong cannot wait to go and look for hyung (Gon) to play with. Gon would always be cooped up in the library, doing complicated maths that just confused Yeong.

“Hyung ah! Come on lets go out and play!”, Yeong begged Gon to stop doing work when he lost patience waiting for him

“Just 5 more minutes Yeong”, Gon couldn’t take his eye off the calculation he was doing…’almost there’, Gon thought as he is so close to solving the problem.

Yeong could only pout and wait until his hyung is done. He finally lightened up when Gon put down the chalk in his hand, “lets go Yeong ah” Gon announced, “Yayyyyy!”, Yeong cheered in excitement

The duo continued to explore the tunnels beneath the palace, this place had a great history and it never failed to amaze the two kids what they would find within it. Yeong would grip nervously on Gon’s shirt as Gon led the way with a flashlight in his hand. This day, the end of the tunnel led to one of the back gardens in the palace, in the middle of it was a huge apple tree. The two wowed in wonder, the apples were green and red as they ripen under the summer sun.

The two looked at each other and knew what they were thinking without even communicating- they wanted to harvest some apples. But there were no long sticks around to knock them down with, so Yeong had the brilliant idea of climbing up the tree. Gon disagreed with the idea, thinking that it’d be too dangerous and there were no people around to help if there was trouble. But before Gon could protest, Little Yeong started making his way up the tree. Even though he was small, Yeong was fearless, probably because he’s raised in a family of military background. His moves were swift and quick and in no time, he was sitting on one of the branches.

“Hyung ah look!”, Yeong called down to Gon who watched his every move with both amusement and worry

“Eoh Yeong ah! Be careful!”, Gon yelled back, for some reason, he can’t shake off the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

Gon watched as Yeong picked some apples and threw them down for Gon to catch, he picked four of them, two for himself and Gon, one to bring back to his parents and one for Court Lady Noh. When Yeong was making his way down, and lost his footing when trying to step on a crook on the tree. Next thing he knew, he was on the ground and pain started searing up both his arms.

**_Gon’s POV_ **

I watched in horror as Yeong slipped and fell, the way he fell made me squirm, he had put out his arms on instinct when landing and I swear I can hear his bones snap. I ran up to him in a flash, surprised that he hasn’t made a noise since, he’s probably just as shocked as I am. But when I look down at his arms…I could only say that it was the nastiest thing I have ever seen.

“Y-Yeong ah”,I put a hand on his shoulder, that’s when the tears start flowing, Yeong’s cries echoed through the empty garden.

“Hyung It hurts!”, Yeong whined between his cries. I try to wipe away his tears with my sleeve, but they just keep pouring out. And I can feel anxiety building up in me, what can I do?! There’s no one around!

“Shhhh I’m here, don’t be scared. I promise you’ll be fine..Don’t try to move it okay?”, I tried to comfort him and pulled him into a soft embrace, careful not to hurt him even more. Thankfully his cries died down a little. “Can you stand?”, I asked after briefly assessing him, he nodded lightly.

Both of us made our way through the tunnel, with the apples stuffed in our pockets, we couldn’t leave it there when Yeong had to go through all this to get them. Court lady Noh almost fainted when she saw at the state Yeong was in, his face had a small scratch, his clothes were a mess and of course his arms bent in a slight angle terrified everyone.

Yeong was quickly escorted to see the royal doctors in the palace, I followed closely behind as Yeong would be scared if he doesn’t see me. Even though he visits the palace often, he was unfamiliar with all the staffs and was naturally closest to me. At the infirmary, Yeong started acting up again, like all children, he hated doctors and the smell of disinfectants only made him more anxious. I looked at him helplessly as he starts crying again when the doctors did an X-ray. I must do something to distract him…hmmm…I then had one of the staffs to bring Yeong’s favourite cookie and sweets, hoping that the food would take his attention off the pain.

And then comes the worst part, the doctors had to set his bones and Yeong was being very difficult, “Hyung ahhh, please make them stop, it hurts!”, Yeong cried out for help, trying to squirm his way out of the nurse’s hold. Making my heart ache to see my best friend in pain. What hyung am I if I can’t even help with his pain.

“Yeong ah, eat this cookie and hyung promise you that it’ll be over before you know it..I know you can do it because you’re the unbreakable sword! The strongest ever! Right?”, I broke off a piece of cookie and placed it in his mouth, he chewed on the treat slowly and nodded silently, suppressing his cries. I can tell he’s trying his best to put on a brave face. He does it everytime he’s reluctant to try something he’s scared of, like horse-riding. The doctors took this chance to do what they had to do, Yeong jolted in shock and cried even louder...I sighed in relied, at least the bad part is over. Soon, Yeong’s cries turned into soft sniffs, inspecting curiously at the doctors wrapping up his arms, he finally cracked a smiled when he got to pick the colour of his cast, making myself smile too. I ruffled his hair, “see? It’s over now”, Yeong nodded and smiled even brighter, “yes Hyung, thanks!”

The next few weeks were pure entertainment for me, Yeong wasn’t able to do anything ‘fun’ and he’s stuck in the study with me, I took this chance to explain my mathematical theories to my rare ‘guest’, Yeong would fall asleep midway and I’d doodle on his casts. One of them had a huge ‘unbreakable sword’ written on it paired with a marvellous drawing of a sword. My drawings are always the best haha. I would go horse riding and Yeong would just watch with envious eyes and I would also lie to him saying that I play sword fights with other ‘friends’ because my unbreakable sword can’t hold a sword. I just love seeing his confused face, I’m afraid I won’t be able to see more of this when he grows older. He would cry to Court Lady Noh and give me the silent treatment, but I can’t help myself, he’s just too cute when he gets angry.

Today I found Yeong sitting on the steps of the east wing, pouting. I took my place next to him, “Yeong ah”, he turned away...he must still be angry from last time.

“Mianhae”, I apologized, “I won’t tease you again”

“ _Promise_?”, Yeong muttered quietly

“Yes”, I offered a ‘pinky promise’ gesture only to realize that doing this action was not within Yeong’s capability, inevitably Yeong gave me the ‘seriously?’ look and the awkwardness became unbearable. I quickly retreated my ‘gesture’ and coughed in embarrassment, “oh—um, m-mianhae”

“Then I’m still the Unbreakable Sword?”, I can see a smile starting to form on his face

“Yes”, I smiled, the next thing I know, Yeong pulled me into a tight hug, not even caring about the inconvenience of the casts on his arms.

“Arasseo Yeong Ah, let go, you might hurt your arms”, I patted his back reassuringly.

“Hyung, I’m hungry”, Yeong suggested

“Okay, lets go to the kitchen and ask the staffs to cook something for us”, I pinched his cheeks

**Kitchen**

**_Third person POV_ **

“Ahhh”, Gon mouthed as he fed a spoon of fried rice into Yeong’s mouth, the younger ate his food happily. The staffs would talk, it’s strange for the king to be feeding someone else but Gon didn’t care, he’d feed Yeong one spoon and eat another himself.

“Hyung Ah, I’m going to be your Unbreakable Sword forever”, Yeong stated, mouth full of rice

“Arasseo”, Gon replied, removing a grain of rice stuck on Yeong’s chubby cheeks, “but you have to heal up first so you can protect yourself and then me”, Gon reasoned

“But I’m going to protect Hyung first!”, Yeong replied

“Why?”, Gon didn’t understand the reason why Yeong was being so persistent on always putting Gon first before himself, Yeong is much smaller than Gon, size and age, but the younger‘s spirit is fierce and stubborn.

“Because if Hyung is happy then I am too...a sword is used to protect and fight for its owner”, Yeong explained, the determination deep in his gaze

Gon reached out a hand to pat Yeong’s head, “you’re right Yeong, but when desperate time comes I do not wish to lose you”

“I won’t go anywhere Hyung! Look I’m all fine aren’t I?!”, Yeong lifted his injured arms proudly to show Gon his toughness

“Geurae...you are definitely a sword of a kind”, Gon smiled....

’But please, don’t get hurt because of me. _You’re_ what makes me happy in this world of evil’, Gon chanted silently in himself as he took in the sight of little Yeong before him.

-End-


	11. Bonus 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Gon is worried about Yeong, He sends the royal guards and Seung Ah...

**kingdom of Corea 2020**

**Jo Yeong’s apartment**

**_Myung Seung Ah’s POV_ **

_Coincidentally_ , today I have a day off as well as Captain Jo’s royal guard team. Actually, I was requested by his majesty yesterday and he asked me to accompany the fellow royal guards on the day off to ‘ambush’ Captain Jo and force him out of his apartment as he hasn’t really been outside since his discharge 3 weeks ago. I mean, what have I done to deserve this?! A day with Jo Yeong?! Ahhhhhhh!!! I’m totally not secretly excited....

His majesty was getting worried but couldn’t find the time to see his Captain due to a sudden load of work due to the coming district conferences and international visitations.

So here I am now, in front of Captain Jo’s apartment, 7:30am, the others will arrive at 9 but I think it’d be better that I come and prepare breakfast. I’ve been here a few times to ‘help’ him during the first week of discharge and he’s certainly 100x better than what he was like at the hospital, but for some reason he’s been a little distant with many people around him,and overly harsh on his recovery. Sighs, That guy really don’t know how to take things slow.

Throughout my time at Jo Yeong’s apartment, I learned that the password to his apartment was 000000...sighs, so much for captain of the royal guards...I also learned that he was lonely...he didn’t have friends who called and asked how he was nor did he call anybody else, I’d catch him staring into space from time to time and there’d be this sort of sadness in his eyes. Nobody (other than Court Lady Noh and his majesty ofc) knew what happened that landed him in such circumstances, and nobody asked. He certainly didn’t seem like he’d share it anyway...I have to strain myself from wanting to comfort him as nobody had a clue how to...not even his majesty.

When I entered Jo Yeong’s apartment, it was apparent that he didn’t wake up yet. Usually he’d to wake up at 6 to train and run the security in the palace before the day starts. So it’s quite strange to see him off his usual schedule, but this is all probably because of the medication he’s on. He’s certainly not as alert these days compared to his usual self.

I cleaned up his house a little, dusted the surfaces, organise the couch and washed some dishes left in the sink. Morning sunlight starts to lighten up the living room, I quietly open the door to his bedroom to find a still figure beneath the duvet cover in the dark. Okay...he’s still asleep...I better start with breakfast.

_**Jo Yeong’s POV** _

Darkness. Ah, it’s a dreamless sleep...better than the dreams about memories, they always give me a headache when I wake. I sometimes question whether it’s the effect of the pills I’m taking that’s making those dreams even more frequent. Much to my surprise, today I woke to some noise coming from my kitchen? Shit, did someone break in?

I got out of bed carefully and pulled out my P30 from the bedside drawer. I open my door quietly, gun in my right hand behind my back, the house smells like food? Did someone break in to cook? Wtf? As i near the corner to the kitchen i peek my head to catch a glimpse of the backside of the perpetrator...a woman...short hair...slim...-wait-that’s....

“Ms. Myung Seung Ah?”, I asked cautiously

The woman turned around, the all too familiar eyes confirmed her identity. I sighed. How did she get in?

“Heol, his bed hair is so cool”, she muttered..this woman really has no filter when she speaks. I then observed her face of realization as she puts a hand over her mouth, and I gave her the ‘yes, you did it again’ look as well.

“Ah-uhm-goodmorningcaptainJo”, Seung Ah greeted hastily, still recovering from her embarrassment a few moments ago

“H-How?”, I don’t even know where to start my questions

“Your password isn’t exactly the hardest to crack...everyone knows it.”, she said blandly

I cursed internally, since when did they all know?!

“But why are you here? There’s no physio session for me today.”

“Ahh, as requested by his majesty, we are to take you out for the day. And I decided to come over and prepare breakfast before the others come. You shouldn’t take your medications with an empty stomach and I know you won’t bother to cook”, Seung Ah explained

“We? Others?”, I asked even more confused...what sorcery is Pyeha planning again?!

“Ho Pil, In Young, Mi Reuk and Kang Min, Joon Ho, Tae Joo from royal guards team 2...apparently the people you are ‘closer’ to according to his majesty, so he ordered all of us a day off to come and take you out”, Seung Ah listed, “breakfast will be ready soon, they’ll be here at 9”

I stood there like an idiot, face palming myself internally, trying to process all this information...why is Pyeha doing all this? Is it because of the silent treatment?

“Why are you standing there like that? And what are you hiding behind your back?”, Seung Ah’s voice disrupted my thoughts

Shit, she can’t know that I was almost gonna shoot her....“N-nothing”, I stuttered and ran back into my room to hide the weapon.

I then washed up and got dressed casually; Jeans and a black hoodie. As for my hair...I’ll leave it down. I have abandoned the sling last week, feeling much better and ‘able’ after a few sessions of physiotherapy.

Then Seung Ah and I ate, although her cooking is not comparable with my mother’s, it’s not bad. I didn’t expect her to know how to do all this given her background. They’d have maids in Canada to cook and clean for them. Today she decided to gossip, about workplace drama in the PA office.

“...and he just expected me to do all the work and he takes all the credits! How can a person be like that?! I’m completely lost for words!”, she exclaimed, heated from all the frustration

I just nodded along...maybe I should make lady Noh know of this so she could demote that Ki Hyun dude or cut his salary or something for being so incompetent. Wait. How is this my matter? But why do I feel the need to ‘help’ her? Just eat your damn food Jo Yeong.

The others arrived punctually at 9...turns out their idea of a day out was to go to a fair...seriously?! Grown men and women..some working as royal guards...f-f-fair?....I face palmed myself internally for the second time of the day, and it hasn’t even started yet!

The fair was about 30 minutes drive from my place, and I’m in a car with Ho Pil, Kang Min and Tae Joo. You can say that I am indeed ‘closer’ to them. Ho Pil because I work with him, Kang Min and Tae Joo because we were in the same unit in the navy and Joon Ho was a junior of mine in the Navy, they’ve decided to work in the palace as well but they manage another team/specialty so we rarely see each other. Nevertheless we’d still have the occasional dinner and drinks when off duty.

“Ya Jo Yeong, who’s that PA woman. She’s been coming to your place quite frequently”, Kang Min chided from the backseat, the tone is really relaxed when we meet off duty

“She’s quite pretty too”, added Tae Joo who’s next to him

I looked over to Ho Pil who was driving, sending him an sos signal with all my might, what am I going to say?!he cleared his throat in awkwardness...and looked away, Aish, he’s not going to help his captain?!

“Oh, uhm...her name’s Myung Seung Ah. There’s nothing between us.”, I stated, praying that they wouldn’t ask any more.

“Ahhh I see I see~”, Kang Min teased. I sighed heavily and gave Ho Pil the ‘I’m going to kill you’ glare, making the sub captain gulp in fear.

The rest of the ride was just the three of them talking about things going on in their lives and their future plans. They all have this ‘no work talk’ policy when off duty, and honestly it’s quite refreshing to hear how their lives have changed or stayed the same after the ‘change’. I haven’t been able to do a thorough background check on them yet as I was too occupied with catching up on bigger matters about....everything.

**At the fair**

**_Jo Yeong’s POV_ **

The setting of the fair was just as I expected, a long path down the middle of a square with game and food stalls on either side, there’s an open stage where artists are surrounded by audiences while they perform. There are all sorts of people- families, children, teens, elders...it’s now that I realize that I haven’t really been to crowded places for leisure and not for the purpose of protecting Pyeha for one of his many public appearances. As I stand and look around, I can spot at least 6 places where a sniper could be waiting to assassinate the nonexistent king and over 15 hazards and risks that could potentially cause harm.

“Captain Jo, loosen up a bit, we’re here to have fun!”, Seung Ah disrupts my thoughts, offering me an ice cream she just bought with the others. I accept her offering awkwardly and she smiles. The warmth of the sun reflects on her smiling face, her features are sharp yet delicate, strangely calming me down....wtf is this feeling Jo Yeong?!

“Why are you staring like that? Is something on my face?”, Seung Ah asked worriedly, my senses quickly returned, “no, no....just haven’t had ice cream in a while”, shit, what a lame excuse *eye roll*.

“Ahh, then eat it quickly before It melts!”, she gestured for me to eat before taking another bite herself.

“Yeong, how about the shooting stall? Loser buys dinner.....I’ll let you off 10 points given you’re not in top condition”, Tae Joo swung an arm around my shoulder

“Tsk, think I’m scared? No need for your mercy”, I remarked as we made our way towards the shooting stall.

“How about we split into two teams? There’s eight of us so...Me, Kang Min, Joon Ho and In Young then Jo Yeong, Ho Pil, Mi Reuk and Seung Ah.”, Tae Joo suggested with a hint of playfulness in his voice.

“But your team are all Guards! We have an injured captain and a PA staff!”, Mi Reuk protested

I was going to reassure him when I got cut off by Seung Ah, “Although I’m a bit disappointed that you think I’m just a PA staff, but don’t worry Mi Reuk...This game is not about how trained you are, it’s how you see through the façade of the game.”, Seung Ah stepped forward with a powerful tone, “I’ll go first”, she smiled and proceeded to pick up the BB gun on the counter.

I don’t even know how but that woman didn’t even miss one target...they’re **MOVING** targets!

“Now that’s how you do it”, she said nonchalantly yet so cool. Completely stealing all of our breaths away. Especially Mi Reuk who just stared with his mouth wide open.

“Wow Seung Ah! At this rate you can join us at the royal guards!”, Joon Ho clapped

“Thanks but I think I’ll stick with PA”, Seung Ah dismisses the hype

After everyone else went, it was my turn. I know that this stall game is completely pointless as someone blind can hit all the targets easily, only those who focus and think too much about the specifics get it wrong, hence, like Seung Ah said, it’s not about skill but seeing through the façade.

Straining my arm did hurt a little but I didn’t allow it to mess up my ‘aim’, managing to not miss a shot. Our team won narrowly by one point. Smiling internally at my victory over Kang Min, Tae Joo and Joon Ho these guys have to think of better ways to get me to pay for dinner.

When we were about to leave the place, I could tell that something caught the eyes of the _kids_ , I can hear them whispering behind my back..what the hell are they planning now?

“Sunbaenimm~”, Joon Ho walked up to my side, his tone sounding exactly like a child asking their parents for something they know they couldn’t have.

“What is it that you guys want”, I replied coldly

“Go somewhere with us~”, Joon Ho smiled mischievously and wrapped his arms around my right arm. the next thing I know I’m dragged towards a familiar looking ‘ _thing_ ’......the **photo booth**. My eyes widen in disagreement to that torture chamber and will definitely flip Joon Ho to the ground to escape. The criminals behind the stickers on my laptop are looking to strike again! Before I can do all that, the rest of the kids swarm over and usher me into that hell hole. Oh my days, not this again! Someone send me back to the hospital or something!!!

I’m surprised that is thing is big enough to fit all eight of us.....they situated me in the middle, Seung Ah by my right and Tae Joo on the left. The others leaning in closely to fit in the frame.

“Smile~”, they all said cheerfully as the machine snaps multiple shots.

“Captain Jo that means you too!”, Seung Ah said between a shot. And **slapped** my arm. Wtf, Did she just slap me? I don’t know why I listened to her but I put on the fakest smile, like the ones I did while trying to be Eun Seob in front of his siblings.

The photo booth adventure lasted for about 20 minutes, the _kids_ wanting to try different styles and poses. Some shots with only the guards some shots with Kang Min, Tae Joo, Joon Ho and Me...and a shot with only me and Seung Ah....I don’t know why but she insisted.

It was late when I got home, surely the most tired I have ever felt after leaving the hospital. A bit like I just babysat 7 Eun Bi and Kka Bi’s. I crashed into bed after a quick shower and slept like a log until my alarm woke me up at 8.

Thankfully, nobody ‘broke in’ today. After making a coffee I decide to continue with my research and background checks...and there it was...the stickers form last night, in all it’s glory and audacity, stuck onto my laptop. Every inch of grey is replaced by the multicolored old and new photo booth stickers. Those rascals must’ve snuck in, changing the passcode on my door is definitely my top priority now. As I observe the mess on my laptop, one particular photo catches my eyes...Seung Ah and Me. My fingers run across the laminated plastic, circling her smiling face...

Why are you making me feel this way?

-End-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And...that's it (for real)! Thank you all for the amazing support for this work! I'm currently manifesting in another Jo Yeong whump fic (haha sorry I'm so obsessed), although this time, I'm exploring his time in the Corean Navy....(haha not gonna spoil too much, still have a plethora of research to do too). It will be some time before I post the next work so please be patient with me! I really want to present the best to all of you...Again, thank you so much for everything, you have all been so inspiring❤️
> 
> P.S. Question: Although Jo Yeong is referred to as Captain Jo, but in episode 6 of TKEM, the insignia on his navy uniform suggests he's a Lieutenant Commander(?). I'm so confused...pls can someone clarify for me?


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